This invention relates to a hockey stick, and particularly to a hockey stick having blade faces that are concavely configured for improved control of the puck. A principal feature of the invention is the employment of parallel grooves in each blade face for imparting a spinning motion to the puck.
It is known that the major faces of a hockey stick blade can have concave surface contours in order to achieve a better shooting accuracy. The concave blade surface tends to prevent the puck from sliding inaccurately off the blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,932, issued to G. Cote, discloses a hockey stick having a blade that has a concave front surface and a straight (flat) rear surface. The flat rear surface minimizes any tendency of the puck to slide inaccurately off the blade during backhand shots.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,076,240, granted to D. Haddad, shows and describes a hockey stick wherein both faces of the blade are concave. The blade has an open-celled honeycomb wall structure that the inventor considers to be beneficial in reducing blade wind resistance; presumably the blade can therefore be swung at a faster speed for imparting a greater force to the puck. The openings in the blade reduce the overall blade weight, which is a further advantage. Edge surfaces of the cell walls have high friction contact with the puck, whereby a degree of spin can be imparted to the puck. The blade can be molded out of plastic material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,682, issued to O. Hughes, discloses a hockey stick wherein the toe end of the blade is bifurcated. The blade sections forming the bifurcation are independently flexible to provide better control of the puck. The bifurcation causes each face of the blade to have a concave configuration.
Japanese patent JP 53-38430 dated Apr. 8, 1978 discloses a hockey stick having a series of parallel horizontal grooves in the back surface of a metal blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,396, granted to P. Cavallaro, shows a hockey stick having a blade that is formed with two divergent blade walls extending from a solid heel area. The patentee describes various reinforcing mechanisms for strengthening the blade against fracture or splitting, particularly at the crotch area where the two divergent blade walls are joined together. The reinforcement mechanisms can take the form of rivets, clips or bands located one to three blade widths from the crotch area where the stresses were found to be the greatest.
The present invention relates to a hockey stick wherein the major faces of the blade have concave surface configurations that are grooved for imparting a spinning motion to the puck. The grooves are angled downwardly and outwardly toward the toe area of the blade, such that the puck is subjected to a downwardly angled spinning force.
The nature of the invention will become more apparent from the attached drawings and description of a specific embodiment of the invention.